Christmas gatherings sometimes suck!

[Streetwise]

Typical Italien dinner, heavy cheek pinching. Dinner, wine, more dinner, wine , then family festering arguments, people getting up visibly pissed, people drinking more wine, little more shouting, more wine, people making up, more wine , people crying and telling each other how much they love them. There you have it, and zero politics, wait it's family politics. I recall many of these meals depending on what relatives were present.

Now my family dinner is just me missing my mom's Italian side of family and great food.

I remember seeing an Italian family and being curious about the culture did your family spend every day together?

 

[Rasputin]

Why do so many relatives have to engage in political BS non-debate superiority contests on Christmas family gatherings? Why can't people just stuff their faces full of ham and mashed potatoes and be content with that instead of trying to antagonize each other?

Is this why God invented the Nintendo Switch? Did God invent handheld consoles just to give me an easy way out whenever this happens? I am going to pretend I am narcissistic and I am going to claim that, yes, that is the reason for that invention.

But, seriously, these people get into these moral superiority matches, and it has me wondering why these people who pride themselves as being respectable adults are acting totally middle school here. And it happens every year.

Christmas gatherings always suck to me. After a short while I tire of the superficial chit chat. If there were something more substantial of interest to discuss it might be different. Fortunately my wife and I take separate cars so I can leave after I have had enough merriment.

I feel the same way about holiday talk shows on television, with superficial chit chat and laughing which after a while gets boring

 

[GadAbout]

I did have to suffer through an afternoon with my husband's family yesterday, but today we exchanged gifts and had breakfast with my daughter and her partner. It worked out great: the things I gave seemed to hit the spot, and I had forbid them getting anything for me. (Back story there: I and my husband are seniors and have been downsizing for the past ten years, the last thing I need is more stuff.) They stayed about 2 hours. And now we have the rest of Christmas day to do whatever the hell we want.

I highly recommend a logical endpoint where people can take the hint it's time to leave. Or if you are the one visiting, make sure you can leave any time without hurting any feelings. It's fine to discuss this in advance with the hosts.

 

[christopher.k]

feeling pretty good now all the nonsense is out of the way although we mostly talked about island politics during lunch though good thing I enjoy politics can finally get out of narking mode as well
and go back to my old cynical self.

 

[GadAbout]

feeling pretty good now all the nonsense is out of the way although we mostly talked about island politics during lunch though good thing I enjoy politics can finally get out of narking mode as well
and go back to my old cynical self.

Please, what is "narking mode"?

 

[christopher.k]

Please, what is "narking mode"?

mentally (and physically if I've slept weird and don't feel like applying my brain to mouth filter) complaining/criticizing about every little thing around me that I dislike.
could probably phrase that better but i need to take my internet break.

 

[GrownupGirl]

God did not invent the Switch, people invented it. I would say more about that but I'll just get banned. Again.

 

[Metalhead]

God did not invent the Switch, people invented it. I would say more about that but I'll just get banned. Again.

But Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was my divine intervention earlier today! It was an excuse to slip away from the dinner table after I emptied and washed my plate. Something as perfect as that could only be described as Divinity Incarnate.

 

[Adiel]

Growing up undiagnosed in a South American family meant every adult thought I was rude and being raised "wrong" because my parents didn't make me kiss everyone on the cheek or get hugged if I didn't want to be. Nowadays, Christmas is just my immediate family and their kids (some of whom are on the spectrum) so we just eat and play tabletop games while my parents nap or watch Christmas movies.

Getting rid of the ignorant oldies was a great idea

 

[GrownupGirl]

I'm glad we don't have any "intellectual debates" about politics or religion when I have supper with my parents. We enjoyed the delicious turkey meal while my dad made a few jokes about how he actually harvested the vegetables from under the snow himself. And then we opened our gifts and my parents mostly watched Christmas movies on TV for the rest of the evening while I played Animal Crossing and drew cartoons.

 

[Aspychata]

I remember seeing an Italian family and being curious about the culture did your family spend every day together?

Holidays yes, and l went to my grandmother's alot. Always spent New Years with her.

 

[paloftoon]

Some humans, family or not, like to argue or only consider their point of view, NT or not.
We can't choose our family, but we can choose how we deal with the situations we are in.